It Just Has To Be Delicious

Posts tagged ‘Mount Lawley’

The Inglewood Hotel is a fairly traditional pub and restaurant at the North end of Beaufort Street in Mount Lawley. We attended for a Christmas function and sampled the set menu. There were three choices of starter, three mains and two desserts.

I chose the beef cheek croquettes with watermelon and feta salad for starter. They were a little under-seasoned on their own, but the addition of the sweet balsamic and salty feta made for a nice mouthful when sampled together. My colleague chose the vegetarian bruschetta which she said was also a little under-seasoned but the artichokes were a nice touch.

For main course I selected the fish – grilled goldband snapper with edamame, pickled cucumber, chill, gem lettuce and red onion salad with lime dressing. The fish was a little on the dry side, but not overly so, and the pickled cucumber was lovely, I would have liked more of it. The salad had way too much lettuce and red onion and I think that a vietnamese style salad would have been a nicer accompaniment. The fish skin was nice and crispy and the fish had a lovely flavour.

My colleague had the vegetarian cranberry and pistachio loaf with caramelised fig and mushroom parcels and salsa verde. The description sounded much nicer than the dish that was presented, however, my colleague enjoyed, she said that it was like a chunky risotto.

Another colleague chose the quarter roast chicken with lemon thyme baby potatoes, honey roast carrots and leeks, with pan gravy and sage stuffing. He enjoyed it – it was a fairly standard roast lunch.

Of the two desserts I chose the warm dark chocolate hot pot with raspberry ice cream and orange candy bits. It was lovely but quite rich and I couldn’t finish it all. I enjoyed the raspberry ice cream more than the chocolate – it was like a brownie mixture and quite runny underneath the crispy topping.

The other dessert was house-made christmas pudding with vanilla brandy snaps. The texture was more of a cake than a pudding, but my colleague enjoyed it very much.

Considering that this was a Christmas lunch and our tables totalled 23 diners, the staff did well to serve all of the meals in fairly good condition. There was a lengthy wait between courses though, and the meal wasn’t really a stand-out feast for me, it was fairly average, but also very good value at $48 for three courses.

If you watched Australian Masterchef in 2016, you would have seen the beautiful dessert creations of Karmen Lu. She just missed out on making the top ten, but her skilful creations stayed in everybody’s memory, and it was great day in Perth when she opened her dessert bar in Mount Lawley. Measure is very popular with the locals. As you walk in there is a busy bar area with a charismatic cocktail bartender, and further back there are quieter tables.

Karmen serves bar snacks like duck croquettes, arancini and sliders, but the thing that everybody drools for are the desserts, each one carefully thought out for maximum flavour and texture.

The sweet creations are not cheap – ours were $20 each, but they were oh so worth it. Measure is a great way to finish off a meal with a touch of Masterchef class. Highly recommended…and yes Karmen herself was there, working hard behind the pass.

The Dainty Dowager is on the main Beaufort Street strip just past Clarence Street, and the first thing that you notice is the warm welcome. There are obviously many regulars here judging by the number of hugs and warm greetings that the head waitress dishes out. We were seated at a regular table (there are also high bar tables that you can perch at), and considering that it was only 6:30pm the place was buzzing, noisy and vibrant.

The wait staff are incredibly good here, not overly attentive so that you feel stifled, but they notice straight away when you need a water top up or a fresh napkin.

The menu is made up of small, medium and large dishes, and it is very much designed for sharing. The vibe is Asian fusion, and I found that most items on the menu were tempting – it was difficult to make a shortlist. We started off with a glass of Castelli Riesling first, a lovely drop – floral and citrus – a real champion of Great Southern Rieslings.

We chose three small dishes. The first to arrive was a sashimi grade fish with ginger plum dressing and burnt chilli aioli. The fish of the day was kingfish, and this dish brought to mind more of a South American style ceviche than a Japanese dish. The aioli was punchy but went really well with the fish and we found it a great and enjoyable plate of food.

The next dish was a pair of napa cabbage spring rolls with celery leaf, carrot and peach and ginger sauce. This was nice but the spring roll lacked seasoning and really needed the sauce to bring out the flavours. It was beautifully crunchy though.

Third to arrive were the coal charred pork spare ribs with a sweet sticky marinade and pickled daikon and carrot. Everything about this plate was tremendous, the pickles beautifully done, the ribs melt in the mouth succulent and falling off the bone. If you order just one thing, order these ribs.

We ordered a medium plate of soft shell crab. This arrived with a som tum salad, and again was a triumphant dish. The crab wonderfully crispy and well seasoned, and the green papaya salad a combination of spicy and citrus, all served with a sweet chilli sauce. Yum.

The last dish to arrive was a large one – chicken mussaman curry. This was different from a regular mussaman curry, there were no potatoes and the sauce was thinner than usual, but the chicken was beautifully flavoured – it had been cooked sous-vide and then flash fried to make the skin crispy. It had a wonderful gingery depth and was served with tomatoes and snake beans. We had to order the rice separately and were presented with a bowl that was plenty for two.

At the end of the meal we were pleasantly full and very happy with our choices, keen to return and try the rest of the menu. The only downside was the ambient noise which made it difficult to converse without shouting at each other, but through sign language we enjoyed a wonderful meal.

Grab A Yabby is a hip and happening seafood bar on Beaufort Street, just at the back of block of shops near the IGA. Bright and airy, the menu consists of mainly seafood, but also some steak and ribs options. Our waitress, Rory was a delight – she made us feel welcome and explained the menu in detail to us.

When you sit you are presented with various helpful options for your meal, which can be a messy affair (not advisable to wear your best frock or a white shirt!). You get a plastic bib, napkins, and disposable gloves. Seafood comes with a mallet to crack open the shells and a knife to dig out the flesh, and of course a bowl for the waste shells etc.

We chose a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to drink – a very nice drop indeed, with great fruit on the nose and very reasonably priced.

To start we chose the signature soft shell crab sliders, and to be honest, I could have eaten a whole plate of them – they were outstanding. Crispy soft shell crab, mayo, lettuce all in a cute brioche bun. Yum.

For mains we selected a combo – the freshwater crayfish combo – 1lb (about half a kilo) of crawfish and yabbies in our chosen sauce which was XO – a classic Asian sauce of shallots, lemongrass, dried shrimps and scallops. This was served in a bag which was a great idea for ensuring that the shellfish were coated in the sauce, and the bag contained potato and sweetcorn. We also received a pot of rice which was lovely with the sauce drizzled over the top. It was messy fun peeling and extracting the fish meat from the crustaceans, and the staff were readily on hand to give yabby peeling lessons. Once we got into using the mallet, a few pieces of shellfish did go flying, but it was all good delicious fun. Everything was wonderfully fresh and tasty. I really would have loved some bread to soak up the rest of that lovely sauce.

We also chose a rack of pork ribs which was beautifully presented and served with chips and a lovely little watermelon salad. After finishing the seafood and washing our hands (there is a convenient wash station with soap and paper towels), we disrobed our bibs and moved across the table to the less messy side to eat the ribs.

The meat on the ribs was succulent and they were well flavoured. The chips were top quality too. If I had one criticism it was that the rib meat didn’t fall apart from the bone and another 30-60 minutes cooking would have made all of the difference, the coating was also a bit on the salty side for me, but not unpleasantly so. At the end of the meal there was no room for dessert, and we went home with very full tummies.

I will definitely return and try some of the other seafood on offer. Grab A Yabby is ideal for groups, it’s fun and it’s good. Give it a try.

I haven’t been to Five Bar for five years, and came back here for a work related Christmas lunch. As a Friday, with not long to go before Christmas, I was a little surprised that the bar wasn’t packed. There were a few random tables with couples or fours, but no other Christmas events happening.

With approx twenty of us, we were given two tables with the tall chairs – this was okay bit not the most comfortable arrangement.

Considering that we had booked in advance and pre-booked our mains, I was a little surprised that they weren’t more organised. We were there for approx 45 minutes before any food made it to the table. The staff were really nice and fixed up drinks as we arrived.

Starters included polenta bites (which were on a squash/pumpkin puree) and a charcuterie board with bread.

There were 3 plates of polenta bites (18 pieces) between 12 of us on our table, but only one charcuterie board. The charcuterie board clearly wasn’t enough to go around and they could have made it easier to share by dividing it up into two or three smaller boards. The bread was okay, but had a denseness to it which suggested that it was either frozen or baked the day before.

For main I chose the beef wellington which was little disappointing. It came with a jus in a glass but I think that I would have preferred a richer gravy. The beef was a little overcooked and the pastry a bit doughy. When it sliced, it fell apart rather than holding together into nice rounds where you can taste everything in one forkful. The veggies that came with it were okay but not stunning. No crispy roast potatoes here, just a mixture of soft roast veg. At a price of $28 on the a la carte menu – this wasn’t good value.

A colleague had beer battered fish and chips which was plentiful and she enjoyed.

Another colleague had the vegetable fritters which seemed to be entree sized. I didn’t get a photograph, but they were very small and not really substantial enough for a lunch compared to the other portion sizes.

We also had sharing desserts (again no picture – sorry). A board of almond cake (6 slices) and passion fruit panna cotta (4 portions) which made it very difficult to share among 12. They tasted delicious, but we only had a spoonful of each.

The whole meal took 3 hours, and I don’t understand why the kitchen didn’t organise it better. If our budget was the problem then maybe they should have suggested skipping dessert and having more substantial starters or vice versa. With the portions sizes being so variable, some people were very happy with their meals and others were disappointed. If the kitchen had taken the trouble to portion out the starters and desserts into sizes that could be easily shared between all of us, then maybe my review would be a lot more favourable.

I remember the menu here five years ago being quite tasty, but this group lunch was a bit of a fail on Five Bar’s part. It was nice, but not amazing and certainly didn’t make me feel inclined to book it in the future. Just a little thought into how it was presented, and the general organisation of the meal would have made a big difference.

This is my previous review from 31 March 2013:

Last night we wandered around Mount Lawley looking for somewhere to have dinner, and ended up in Five Bar (or is it Bar Five?). I like this bar, I have had a pre-dinner drink in here before and the bar food looked interesting and appetising, so thought we would give it a try. They also have a nice wide selection of beers, wines and spirits.

I love the bars around Mount Lawley – you can fit right in no matter how old you are, how dressed up you are, there are tables of casually dressed seniors sitting comfortably amongst tables of giggling model lookalikes, along with surfer dudes that look like they have stepped off the beach, and dating couples occupying quiet corners. Some visitors enter quietly, others sashay in as if on a catwalk, but it all seems to work and fit with the ‘anything goes’ comfortable vibe of the area.

We sat in a comfy chair and ordered some tapas style dishes from the menu. You can also order meat and cheese platters and larger meals, but we fancied a selection of smaller items.

Table number playing card

When your order is taken they give you a playing card for a table number which is quite quirky (like Sayers – they give you an alphabet character).

Mixed meat terrine

I loved the mixed meat terrine. It tasted like Christmas in a mouthful – chicken, pork and turkey, with a lovely citrus chutney – I wished we had more bread to accompany it though.

Steak Tartare

This dish was the star of the meal – perfectly shredded raw beef with egg, horseradish and red onion. The horseradish was ‘proper’ horseradish – nice and punchy, not the mild creamy version that is so often used. Whole dish perfectly executed. Again we could have done with more bread. I would happily have this dish again.

Chorizo with capsicum

The chorizo in this dish was very very strongly flavoured. The capsicums were nicely cooked and went well with the chorizo, but the overall flavour was too strong and overpowering. I would give this a miss next time.

Chips with curry aoili

Chips don’t get much better than this.

Will I be going back to Five Bar? Yes I will, I won’t choose the chorizos again, but I know that I will get a very satisfying meal. Looking forward to trying other items from the menu when I go back – the goat balls looked interesting.

I had been intending to visit Must for some time and eventually booked it after seeing that a friend had thoroughly enjoyed a meal there. I booked online, which was easy to do and was pleasantly surprised with the surroundings when I got there. It was lively, well stocked and welcoming. the seats were a little close together, but had been staggered slightly so that it was still comfortable to leave the table when necessary.

The wine list was extensive and also contained cocktails and mocktails. I chose a glass of the Spanish treixadura which was fruity and delicious.

When bread was provided I asked for olive oil instead of butter and the waiter quickly filled my request.

I chose oysters to start with a lime and cucumber dressing.

My partner chose the chicken liver parfait with Riesling jelly

Both starters were of an excellent standard. the oysters were fresh with a divine dressing, the parfait was light and smooth and flavoursome.

For main I chose the seared Huon Tasmanian salmon with a fennel and orange salad and saffron vinaigrette

I was very keen to try out this new sushi bar in Mount Lawley – everybody seems to be talking about it. I am still lamenting the management change that happened to Yuzu just around the corner – and since the ‘old’ Yuzu went, I have missed good quality, exciting, consistent sushi.

The reservation was quite difficult – the staff did not seem to understand me, but I managed to make a reservation eventually – good job that I did because it is a very small place. It is not really a place to linger – very canteen style, and they serve you quickly to maintain a good turnover of customers. You can invent your own sushi, but I decided to choose from the menu.

Kara-age chicken

Tuna and avocado roll

Spider roll with soft shell crab

The portions were generous, and I found them difficult to eat. I like my sushi portions to be a mouthful – if I have to bite into them they invariably fall apart and make a mess on the plate.

Following my previous post about tapas I decided that I needed to experience more of Perth’s offerings, so today for lunch I went to Cantina 663. It is easy to find because 663 is the address and it is close to the junction of Walcott Street.

We arrived at 11:45am, too late for breakfast but too early for lunch. I recommend calling to book at least 24 hours beforehand – I tried to call this morning, but got an answerphone message which did not get any response because they were so busy.

Most of the tables were reserved, but a friendly American waiter called Zach found us a table. The restaurant is curiously placed, just inside a small shopping arcade, and the tables sprawl out into the arcade. Zach said that the lunch menu would not be available for ten minutes, but brought some orange juices while we were waiting – the orange juice was delicious and fresh.

When the lunch menu came up, it showed a selection of small lunch meals or tapas style boards. We decided to go for the tapas, starting with a duck liver parfait:

This proved to be a very good choice, a lovely smooth parfait with hunks of grilled bread and an onion jam.

Then we chose the chorizo with pickles:

The chorizo was extremely tasty, served with pickled onions, carrots and cucumber, simple but superb.

The next dish was a selection of 3 cheeses:

Unfortunately my picture of the cheeses did not come out, but the selection included a lovely oozy brie-type cheese, a hard cheese and a blue cheese. I can’t remember the names of the cheeses, but they were all from Europe and included two made with cow’s milk and one made with sheep’s milk. All were delicious and combined very well with the fig and walnut bread, apple, quince paste, oat biscuits and honeycomb.

Finally we were served with a tortilla, which was new to the menu, so Zach asked us if it was ok. It was a lovely combination of waxy smooth potatoes, egg, parsley, red onions and blood orange and the whole dish worked very well:

We also had coffee – they serve Fiori coffee here which is very good nice coffee with just a hint of bitterness.

The whole meal was a perfect amount for lunch. Zach was a delight,he remembered all of our order perfectly and kept checking to make sure that everything was as expected. I will certainly be returning regularly to Cantina 663.